The Poinsettia
by Moon Dolphin
Summary: This is a short story about Spain's first step into the New World... and having somebody new and unexpected come into his life.


As Spain stepped off the platform and onto the sands of the unfamiliar territory, he felt the weight of the armor on his torso. He looked ahead and saw the expanse of jungle, coloring everything beyond the sand a tasteful, dark green. This was rather refreshing after spending many months aboard a wooden ship with the occasional bought of seasickness.

It was the year 1522 when Antonio decided to explore the land that was deemed "The New World" by his people. Two years earlier, the last of the true Aztec rulers, Montezuma II, was killed by the invading Spaniards, thus causing a great empire to fall. The Spaniards were in the process of establishing themselves there and the rest of land was theirs for the taking. The rest of the native people were theirs for the exploiting.

Spain noticed that there was a lack of cold air despite it being December. Even his native Mediterranean got cold and wet during this time of the year. The weather in the new land was as warm and pleasant as the summer months, although it was made less pleasant with the fact that he had to wear armor.

All of a sudden, he did not feel like unloading the ship along with the other seafarers and he developed the urge to explore beyond the green. As soon as he stepped off of the sand and onto the dirt floor, he stopped feeling the sinking feeling beneath his armor-plated feet. He heard a symphony of unusual birds and frogs under the canopy. He thought that he knew the ground beneath him, but he did not notice the large root in front of his right foot. The darkness caused by the tall trees did not much help matters, either. When he tripped over the root, he fell flat on his face into the moist soil, tasting the earth when he accidentally had his mouth open. When he looked up, he saw something unusual.

In front of him was a plant that stood about a foot tall. It was alone amongst the other plants, telling Spain that it most likely was carried by the wind as a seed and was not normally native to the Atlantic part of the land mass. This plant had flowers that were bright red and leaves that were green, as was the typical color for any leaf. The flower had a vibrant appeal that told Spain that it wanted to be noticed, yet at the same time it was dwarfed by the large flowers surrounding it. Despite the Winter Solstice coming the following night, this flower prevailed and was not afraid to show its beauty. It was most likely not very poisonous, either.

"How could something so beautiful and innocent appear during such a dark time?" Spain asked himself. It turned out that he was not alone in the jungle, since a fellow conquistador galloped in on his horse and printed a hoof in the middle of the plant.

"What are you doing, _se__ñ__or_?" he asked with pomp and authority, "Stop fooling around and unload the ship! We did not come here to look at pretty flowers!"

Spain shrugged and made his way back the ship, as well as back to the sand that would always cause his feet to sink. As he was unloading boxes, he overheard some men discussing something that they had seen earlier that day.

"You saw her, too?" asked one man to the other. Naturally, Spain was intrigued and couldn't help but butt in.

"Might I ask what you are talking about?" he asked.

"There's this little girl that has been wandering around."

"And?"

"She has been calling for her mommy."

"Why haven't you helped her?"

"She runs away whenever anybody approaches her."

"What does she look like?"

"She has darkish skin like a native and wears a pink dress." Spain thought that, indeed, this was an interesting case. He felt pity for this girl, but decided to dismiss his negative feelings, making way for the positive thought that the girl did find her mother by now. But why would her mother abandon her in the first place?

The next evening, Spain, once again, strayed far away from his fellow conquistadors to do some exploring. As he got deeper into the jungle, he discovered a fantastic and surreal site. He had stumbled into an abandoned city. This city did not contain that many ruins; it had only become void of its people in the past few years. The stone buildings and idols were still intact. At most, there were vines clinging to the architecture and cracks in the pavement. Tiny lizards scattered along the buildings, fleeing since a larger being appeared. All that Spain could hear from the once-bustling center was the call of random jungle birds, ones that were about to make the place home once enough vegetation grew over it.

He carefully explored the area and found homes with pottery still in them. For all he knew, they could have contained rotting food that would never reach anyone's stomach – not that anybody wanted rotting food inside them. Spain grew almost afraid of the lack of commotion in this ghost town. He was almost compelled to walk into one of the abandoned houses, pick up a plate and drop in on the floor.

Soon, the sun completely disappeared over the horizon and Spain found himself needing the aid of fire in order to venture further. Thankfully, he had some mini-torches on hand and ignited one of them, producing a small but useful flame. As he wandered further into the center, he came across an architectural marvel that stood out from the others; it was a temple with many steps leading to the top. He put his torch close to the building and saw many strange symbols and drawings. He believed it to be the ancient civilization's written language, but the pictures were arranged in a way so that it was difficult to interpret, if they meant anything at all.

Spain's curiosity got the best of him and he climbed the many steps to the top, where he walked into the temple. Ahead of him was a statue of an eagle man, along with pikes that most likely held the heads of various victims of sacrifice. Above the statue was an opening that acted as a entranceway for sunlight. However, at this time, darkness was making its way through. Despite the Indiana Jones-like discovery, the things just described were not the most surprising details about this temple. On the table below the god statue was a little girl with caramel-colored skin, dark hair and a pink dress. This child was no more than a baby; she was at the age where she could not go the entire day without taking a nap, preferably somewhere random. In fact, that was exactly what she was doing on the table. The only living human in the entire city was on the table where sacrifices were most likely held.

That wasn't all, though. Spain noticed that on her head was a poinsettia blossom, the resilient flower that he saw after he arrived. It was the exact same color as the one in the jungle and, like the plant in the jungle, this one was solitary. Spain did not want to wake the girl but felt like taking off his armor so that he could relax a little. He stripped off the armor bit by bit and placed them on the ground as quietly as he could. However, the girl's hearing was as sharp as native's spear. As soon as Spain set his body armor on the ground, her milk chocolate-colored eyes jerked open. She sat up and brushed off her dress, only to discover that the person in front of her looked similar to the soldiers from which she had been running away.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"My name is Antonio, but you may call me Spain," said Spain. Before the girl could open her mouth again, Spain automatically knew what was going to come out.

"Have you seen my mommy?"

"What does she look like?"

"She has long, wavy hair and she has all these treasures and Chihuahua dogs surrounding her."

"What is her name? Do you know her name?" Spain almost did not expect the little girl to answer, since children her age would mostly know their mothers simply as "mom" and not their first names.

"Her name is Aztec." Spain thought, "What a strange name for a woman." Then he remembered that Aztec was the name of the civilization that conquered this land before the Spaniards arrived. And then it hit him: This little girl was a nation-tan, just like he was. As with most nation-tans, the parent's culture would become obsolete and defunct once the child became established as a new nation. But how would he break this news to someone this young?

"Little girl… I'm afraid your mother is gone." The girl cocked her head like a curious parrot.

"Where did she go?"

"No, I mean… she's no longer with us. She's dead." Upon hearing those words, tears of utmost grief came cascading out of the girl's eyes. She became inconsolable and shaky at the revelation. All that Spain could think of was that he had not even been in the New World very long and he already made a little girl cry. He became even more guilt-stricken once he realized that it was his compatriots that caused the death of this girl's mother.

He walked over to the little girl and picked her up. He held her against his armor-free shoulder, where her tears would moisten the fabric of his shirt.

"Don't cry, _peque__ñ__a_," assured Spain, "I'm right here for you." Suddenly, the little girl did not feel so scared of this young man and the flow of her tears slowed down.

"Will you be my papa?" she asked. Spain was slightly jarred at the request, especially since he still had little Romano across the ocean in his care. However, he could not get himself to say no. After all, how could something so beautiful and innocent appear during such a dark time?

"Yes, I will be your papa." What a ground-breaking decision Spain had made. Now that he was the guardian of this child, she was his to sculpt in any way he wanted. He would teach the baby girl the Spanish language, as well as feed her Spanish food at mealtimes. He would introduce her to Spanish games so she could laugh and play again. He would dress the baby girl in Spanish clothes. He would convert her to the Catholic faith and have her revere the Virgin Mary. He would have her become accustomed to domesticated animals like the cow and goat and give her their milk since her mother was no longer around to breastfeed her. He would sing Spanish lullabies whenever she woke up crying in the middle of the night.

This was all well and good, but what would he call her? Although she looked nothing like her new caretaker, Spain figured that the name New Spain would fit her just fine. After all, he wanted her to grow up to be just like him.

Spain was so busy imagining what new nation he would shape that he grossly underestimated how much of the mother's culture the girl would retain. He would not find that out until later, though. Before he knew it, New Spain was asleep in his arms and had succeeded in finding the warmth and love that she craved. Her presence made this Winter Solstice turn out a little more brightly than Spain originally expected.


End file.
